HOGAN’S THE BLUES HERO
SCOTT HOGAN succeeded where fellow striker Lukas Jutkiewicz had failed to give Birmingham three vital points in their fight against relegation.
The hosts’ chances of beating Swansea looked to be fading after Freddie Woodman kept out Jutkiewicz’s first-half spotkick for his fifth penalty save in eight games for the club.
But when substitute Yan Dhanda brought down Ivan Sunjic in stoppage time, Hogan — who had replaced Jonathan Leko eight minutes from time — gave Woodman no chance from the spot to make it two wins from two home games for new boss Lee Bowyer.
The win moves the Blues six points clear of the bottom three though Rotherham have four games in hand due to a Covid-19 backlog.
Swansea remain third but are nine points behind secondplaced Watford.
Though they stay in the automatic promotion hunt, Swansea have lacked fluency recently and the early exchanges set the tone for a slugfest on a bare pitch.
Alen Halilovic was Birmingham’s most creative player in the first half. In the 25th minute, the Croat found shooting space on the edge of the box after a short corner, only to fire high and wide.
He was more accurate from a similar position two minutes later and Swansea were relieved to see the ball clip Jutkiewicz and slide behind.
Jutkiewicz then missed a golden chance for the opener. Connor Roberts brought down Leko but the striker’s fiercely struck penalty was saved by the legs of Woodman.
Mindful of their escape, Swansea started the second half with much more purpose and pinned Birmingham back.
On the hour mark, Jamal Lowe turned quickly and shot, with Harlee Dean doing well to block. Then substitute Dhanda saw his free-kick from 20 yards well saved by former Cardiff keeper Neil Etheridge.